11 TIPS TO KICKSTART YOUR
PREPARATION

by

NIKHIL
BHARDWAJ

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retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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without written permission of the author and the publisher.

Most of the students right now are not busy in thinking about whether
they should take exam of ESE or just stick to GATE. They must think
about this right now.

The exams can’t be cleared by- “Should I go to take the exam
tomorrow? I have filled the form fees already, so I should. But it
was just 100 bucks right? I already don’t feel confident about
ESE’s Non-Tech part and why pay the travelling fare if I know there
are less chances. So I shouldn’t. I’ll see it tomorrow then.”

You need a plan right now and for that you must know what things you
have got to cover.

Also this is applicable for the subjects. A lot of
students skip some part and/or some subjects of the syllabus. Try to
cover the whole syllabus as effectively as you do the basic subjects.
However if you come to skip something, Don’t skip A PART of a
subject. It’s better to leave the whole subject. So, do it or don’t
do it at all.

TROUBLE WITH TIME TABLE

It’s natural to get bored or feel that this
schedule of study doesn’t have the potential to give what you seek.
You may want to change the timetable every week or every
month.

So, schedule everything but the study and fill the gaps with the
study. While starting the studying, sitting for 5-6 hours
continuously isn’t possible. So just fill the gaps. Or schedule
like this- finish some certain pages or topics in a sitting and then
take a break. And then start again. You can even read newspaper while
breaks or solve question something else or use GradeUp.

KEEP YOURSELF BUSY

Unless you have joined a
coaching, it will be really boring till the exams. And bored person
does everything but the supposed. All you see is 6 months, when you
are lucky and successfully completing the daily or weekly targets in
subjects you’ll feel-“I don’t need 6 months, I can do it in
less.”

But before exams you’ll literally cry for one
more week, one more day, one more hour. You will remember every
stupid thing that you did and should not have done. So better is to
not doing them. Keep yourself busy in the
things around, don’t waste time though. You can use The
Rule of Parallel Universe (read 11
Point Rulebook for Every Student.)

And you’re looking at what I did when I was
bored of Microprocessor. You can help people in their study, in your
friend-circle or over GradeUp.

PREPARE FOR THE FINAL ACID TEST

Acid test is a phrase used more commonly for a critical exam, Might
help you in some English Exam. Collect the details of exams, their
notifications date, and form filling dates. You can do this when
you’re bored of studying.

Avoid small things that could adversely affect
your performance in the exam hall.

Some are-

Avoid
sleeping at the exams’ time. Like for GATE avoid 2-5 pm, for ISRO
avoid 4-5:30pm. (I was literally yawning in the exam hall whilst
GATE this year)

Use
similar equipment as of exams. If you own a laptop, still use a
usb-mouse.

Try to be
more familiar to the environment of exam hall. Leave least surprise
for the exams.

TAKE NAPS NOW, SLEEP LATER

I’m not going to ask you to do it hard this time and enjoy for your
whole life- because that never happens and I bet you’ve heard it
million times.

In the initial stages your mind is active so you
can spot confusions and mistakes in the books or notes better than
later. You’ll be overwhelmed by “What happened? Why not this way?
I read something else at the last page!” when you read the subjects
1st or
2nd
time. You won’t ask these questions 3rd
time or while revising, because you either know the answer or you
don’t want to know because you don’t have enough time. You can
use The Silly Question Rule, read 11
Point Rulebook for Every Student.

Use the time of initial stages to learn the
subjects and later you need to mug them, do them by heart. So
initially you’re actually playing with subjects and later you will
need memory power to store. Sleep helps you
to have a better memory but not now, you don’t need much sleep in
the initial stages. You can use The 7
hour- sleep Rule, read 11
Point Rulebook for Every Student.

BETTER WAY TO USE GRADEUP OR FACEBOOK++

GradeUp is a free app for various exams, supported
by a team which provides Quick Revision
Notes, Daily quizzes. You can take previous papers of various exams
according to your subjects also. The more helpful thing is the
discussion section, the doubt section. Most of the student keep
themselves to just the official team quizzes and short notes. They
don’t get involved in the learning process which is possible in the
discussion section. You can ask your doubts, start discussion over a
topic you feel difficulty in. You must fight for your opinion but
also be ready to accept if someone else has more to offer. Not only
actively take part in discussion but also read what others have to
say. You may find something, something that could help you, something
that could simplify some topic or could offer a simpler and better
explanation. GradeUp also offers its own Test series for many exams.
For more information visit gradeup official website and find the app
at google play store for android.

Similarly Facebook++ app
is for MadeEasy students. It has many features- discussion section,
daily quality quizzes, blogs, study materials, solution of previous
exams’ papers. For more information about Facebook++, visit
MadeEasy official website and find the app at google play store for
android and apple store for iphones.

1300 MATH FORMULAS

1300 Math Formulas
is a book written by Alex Svirin.
This book contains various categories of mathematics- Number Sets,
Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Matrices and Determinants, Vectors,
Analytic Geometry, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus,
Differential Equations, Series, Probability.

This book is a marvelous collection of mathematics
formulas of above categories with zero error found yet (in my
studying). This not only helps in the Gate,
ESE, SSC-JE, BARC, ISRO but also in many other exams which include
Geometry, Analytic Geometry, Trigonometry that are usually omitted in
Gate and ESE.

For better command on mathematics try to finish
this book once a month though 1300 formulas seem a little too high.
This book is available to buy as a hardcopy. If you can’t afford to
buy or if you want to know if it’s really worth buying, you can
search it online. As a PDF version, it is available for free over
internet.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

For the most of the students it is always a mystery- which subject to
begin with. Try this-

Make a list of the total subjects that you need to
cover. You can use Prepare
for The Final Acid Testfor the details. Make another list
that you feel confident in. Now allot time to these subjects both
minimum and maximum. You are going to know the use of min and max
soon. Minimum and Maximum time should be chosen carefully. Min is- “I
need at least XX days for the subject YYYY, WW days for ZZZZ subject
and so on.” Max is- “I can’t give more than xx days to YYYY, ww
days to ZZZZ and so on.”

Calculate remaining time and allot that time to
the remaining subjects. Use Do
it or Don’t do it at alltechnique while choosing the
subjects that you need to finish at any cost. Don’t leave a topic,
it will be better if you leave the subject. While you allot the time
to those subjects that you feel tough, you have to be more careful.
You exactly don’t know how much time a particular subject will
take. And these subjects play the crucial role in your exam.

Start the difficult subjects first and if possible
finish them before the Max time allotted. Now pick easier subjects.
If you still have time you have two options- revision of the subjects
that you have already completed, finish an abandoned subject. But
only choose the second option if you are sure that you can complete
it or the part you finish will definitely give you marks, otherwise
focus on revision.

MAINTAIN A REPORT CARD

At the end of your preparation, just before the horrific festival of
exams begins; you are most likely to lose confidence. You’ll find
yourselves saying “Um, I read it. But I’m not sure whether I can
solve such question in exams. I should read it once more.”

Make a table, write (subjects, books, workbooks,
solved papers) in a column and (number of times you have read or
revised them or solved them) in a top row.
You can reverse the arrangement too, however you please. Don’t
forget to fill the entries inside it whenever you are done. It will
certainly give you confidence at the last timing.

But the most important advantage is- you will know exactly: what is
left to read, what to revise, what you haven’t touched yet, what
you are wasting your time in, where to focus more. This will work as
a guide to you. Make sure to keep it safe.

HOW TO KEEP GOING

Revision is the key to success. But motivation is the key to keep
going on. There must be a reason why you chose this exam; why this
exam can be a game changer for you, for your life.

Download the wallpapers of some sports event-
Football, Baseball, Rugby game, any Olympic Event, any international
game event. You’ll find emotions in them,
the sports events are a grand stage for the celebration of victory
and pitiful failures. Make those images your smartphone or Computer
wallpaper. Connect yourselves to those emotions, and you will feel
energy that will push you forward no matter what happens.

If you want more- Write these down on a paper- the
lines that describe the fear inside your heart and mind, lines that
show what is at stake, lines that show why you have to do it, why you
must do it, the lines that show your unfulfilled wishes, lines that
show your dreams, lines that contain your pain and anger.

I attach some of the best lines I could find and
my own life lessons which you will surely
read in detail in my book CODE:

Credit to others:

“The woods are lovely dark and deep,

But there are many promises to keep.

I have to go miles before I sleep,

I have to go miles before I sleep.”
– by Robert Frost

“Sympathy
or Respect!

What do you want from society?

Choice is yours.” – by Aditya Kanwal

“You’re
wasting time if you sleep more than 7 hours” – by Bhupendra
Singh

“You’ll
never know how close you’re to the success.

So just believe in yourself and keep going on.” – by Aditya
Kanwal

Credit to Unknowns:

“Don’t
try. Either do it or don’t even start.”

“There
is never a beginning, never an end. There’s just becoming.”

“Follow
the 100% rule in your life. Give your 100% while doing anything.”

“Start
taking responsibilities for the outcomes of events that you were
involved in.”

“No
compromises for success”

My life lessons:

“There is nothing
called Best. There is always room for Better.” –by NB

“You can’t change your own name, but you can
change what it means to others.” –by NB

“Failure hits you like a stroke of hammer. You
have many options- be brittle and you’ll shatter, be plastic and
you’ll live with your wounds forever, be
tensile and you can store the energy that you could use to move
forward” –by NB (inspired from
Material Science)

BEST
FREE BOOKS AND EBOOKS FOR EE

You are free to read from whichever book you like,
but solve the questions from only those books that have available
solutions. I provide best books for theory and numerical
by my personal experience for Electrical engineering. All these books
are available for free over internet if you wish to check if they are
worth buying.

The Books under Numerical category are provided with Theory plus
numerical and their Solution Manual is available on internet for
free.

For
such books, previous exam papers, test series of different institutes
at one place Follow
me on GradeUp.

Make
sure to check out 11 POINT RULEBOOK
FOR EVERY STUDENT which is
specifically written for Engineering Students of EE, but it still
contains a lot for every student whatever the stream be.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Nikhil Bhardwaj is an India based electrical engineer, a student
guide and an author targeting sci-fi fiction and humour. He also
has been an unpaid college events and birthday photographer, unpaid
photo editor of not- much famous people’s not-much famous photos.

He has
received a few distinctions- majorly academic excellence
award for 2 successive years in college and a laptop (that he
used to write all this) under an appreciation scheme, again for
academics.

After
attending a workshop in IIT-Gn, he realized to start working on
writing a juvenile fiction novel. At the age of 18, he started
shaping the characters and an outline which managed to produce a
draft in the name of CODE, before his 19th birthday. CODE is a
work of fiction but is inspired by real people, real events and real
memories of author’s personal life. The second edition of it with
massive updates was released in JULY 2018.